1. --
Lanie LeBlanc OP
2. --
Carol & Dennis Keller
3. --
Brian Gleeson CP
4. --
5. --(Your
reflection can be here!)
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1.
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Sun. 24 B
Some things seem difficult to understand especially at
first. Some Scripture passages fall into that category. Most
of the time, Jesus's words do also!
Not this time, really though. Jesus is pretty clear about
the path of suffering that He must follow. He is clear that
the apostles and we, too, must conform our lives to His.
What is difficult for most human beings is to let go of
our preconceived notions of what that might mean. What is
difficult is recognizing and accepting what stands in the
way of understanding things more clearly. What is difficult
is just doing what Jesus expects once we figure it out.
Jesus's question of "who do you say I am?" is a haunting
one. Is Jesus just a good role model? Is Jesus a fix-it
person when our lives become shattered or our cross becomes
too heavy? Is Jesus the One Who really matters? Who Is
Jesus.....???????????
Reviewing that question fairly frequently is a wonderful
way to try to stay on the right path, the path perfectly
modeled and laid out for us by Jesus. It is a way to
demonstrate our faith through good works. It is a way never
to be put to shame before God.
Is it a way that you and I can live as more authentic
Christians?
Blessings,
Dr. Lanie LeBlanc
OP
Southern
Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one
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Twenty Fourth Sunday of Ordered Time September 16,
2018
Isaiah 50:5-9; Responsorial Psalm 116; James 2:14-18;
Gospel Acclamation Galatians 6:14; Mark 8:27-35
Students of human history which spans more than forty
centuries can choose how to view and understand the great
achievements of humanity. There is also awful violence,
expressive great art, and the manufacture of fearsome
weapons. Nations have suffered from, the power of autocrats
but benefitted from the generosity of persons of great
character. Economies have improved quality of life but have
also crushed millions with poverty. Who can overlook the
death and oppression visited humanity by the awful cruelty
of despotic power. If we drill down and study individual
persons we tend to think with assumptions. We contrast
peasants with noblemen. The impoverished are overlooked in
favor of the wealthy. The undereducated recede to the
shadows cast by the greatly educated. How can we be totally
inclusive of all persons if we view history only through the
prism of power, wealth, and influence? How can we identify
the truly mature, the most awesomely genius, the kindest and
most loving among those who have gone before us if we use
standards of influence, power, and wealth? Are these the
only measures of importance to the Creator God?
This is a hard thought. We don’t think of the
insignificant person in terms of character. It is a leap too
far for most of us to discover that fullness of character is
the measure of individual human existence. We tend to judge
ourselves and others not so much by the depth and greatness
of our character but by things accumulated and power we
exercise. When we do so, we descend into a black hole of
isolation, of idolatry of the worst kind. Those black holes
in human history are filled with violence, with theft, with
murder, with adultery, with cruelty, with abuse of the most
vulnerable among us. Thus we date human existence by wars
fought, wealth achieved, and influence peddled.
The truth of human history is expressed in our culture.
Art is recorded and expressed in art, in songs, in images
created for our entertainment. Contemporary entertainment is
laced through and through with violence, hatred, revenge,
and domination. Anger and suppression of others is a
hallmark of socio-politico-economic environments. Murderous
competition marks economic efforts. Political energies are
applied to the elimination of views of non-aligned
movements. Racism, nationalism, and disdain for persons of
divergent cultures are accepted as valid national
priorities.
If we understand our time and place in God’s creative
endeavor we can easily be overwhelmed by the world’s
inclination to evil. Is all darkness; is all destined to
self-destruction? Are we on an accelerating tread-mill
rushing like hamsters madly into a future that is merely
more of the same, made more effective by technology? Where
can we find hope for a better future for our children and
grandchildren?
Where is God in all this? Are God’s hands tied? Is God’s
presence ineffective in human life? Why doesn’t God just put
an end to all this? Are we victims to evil? Is there no way
out? Perhaps this Sunday’s readings may provide us a clue
forward?
The first reading this Sunday is from Isaiah. If we
listen closely to this prophet we’ll notice that he tells us
that God works on our character, on our spirit. He speaks to
us and expects to carry out what is right and responsive to
God’s way. God provides us energy so that we can endure,
that we can take on the suffering with which evil challenges
our persons. Isaiah is clear: "The Lord God is my help…" God
isn’t interfering by changing the rigors and challenges this
Isaiah in servitude in Babylon. This reading is from the
second part of Isaiah when the Jews were slaves in Babylon.
It is the part of Isaiah that tells us about the suffering
servant, the Lamb who suffers and endures evil. This
suffering servant endures and in his witness to God’s
presence brings hope to the captive nation. Evil is
identified as contrary to God’s will and purpose for his
people. But the victory of God’s chosen people does not come
as a military victory. It is through suffering that faith is
discovered, that the love of God is found, and that hope for
the future is born.
Keeping this suffering in mind, we listen to the reading
from James. His words seem to overlook the suffering of
Isaiah. He speaks instead of social justice. He writes that
we must feed the hungry and clothe the naked. He insists
that faith must include action or it is not real faith. The
faith of the Christian is that the Christian makes the love
of God present by loving other persons. Faith that does not
reach out with concern for others’ condition not faith
because it denies the meaning and revelation found in the
life, the work, and the death and resurrection of the Lord.
Faith is not a matter of devote self-centeredness. Faith
imitates the Lord, Jesus.
We come then to Mark’s gospel. Mark’s gospel is
characterized by a gradual revelation of Jesus as the
Messiah. In the early part of the gospel, Jesus preaches,
teaches, and heals. This is a revelation of God’s presence
among the people. That revelation calls persons into
community. There is meaning and purpose in the events of
history. God does not create evil. Imitating God’s life is
not about domination, the accumulation of wealth, or the
pursuit and application of influence. Jesus’ preaching,
teaching, and miracles are how God reveals what he is. Those
efforts of Jesus are a call to an intense and engaging
vision of God’s presence. Jesus reveals, through his
ministry, the Creator’s abiding love for creation. Already
in the Hebrew Scriptures, God is characterized not by wrath
or anger at his people. God is characterized by his "loving
kindness" toward his people. God’s wrath is not person
directed but focused on sin, on what is out of order with
the intent of his creation. This is hardly a vengeful,
tyrannical god so characteristic of pagan cult and worship.
Even when his people do evil, deny the dignity and worth of
any part of creation, God continually creates ways to
transform the harm down by evil into an opportunity for an
avenue of growth.
In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus asks the disciples who
they think he is. Peter answers for those who are witnesses
and follow Jesus. "You are the Christ." The Christ is the
one hoped for who will bring about a new kingdom, a new
nation, a completion and fulfillment of the promises made to
King David. What the apostles thought that kingdom would
look like was certainly not the Kingdom God had in mind.
Jesus tells them not to share this insight with any others.
Perhaps this is because Peter’s and the disciples’
understanding of what "you are the Christ" meant was hardly
what God had in mind. Our first awakenings of faith
individually often are like those of the apostles at this
point before the death and resurrection. We are attracted by
the words, by the miracles, communities of fellowship, and
the joy of belonging. This is only the beginning of faith.
If our faith gets stuck in this beginning we’ll miss out on
the depth and impact faith can have in our living. The
deeper our faith, the more intense will be our peace of
spirit, the less will we be in completion with others. We
will discover the ability to discern worth and dignity in
every person and in even the smallest item of God’s
creation. Our lives will be fuller.
For centuries the theology of the mystery of the Cross
focused on providing satisfaction to God for the
transgressions of humanity. It is often said, even in our
day, that Jesus died for our sins. That our God would demand
the death of his own son in order to be satisfied for
slights against his dignity is a throw-back to the feudal
period of human history. In those days anyone who offended,
dishonored, or did physical or reputational harm to the
Lord, the Lady, or the retinue of the Castle would have to
make satisfaction to the offended person. Typically this
occurred by numbers of days in the dungeon or in public
humiliation in stocks in the market place. In extreme cases
only painful death would provide the required satisfaction.
This system was created to maintain law and order and make
the Lord, Lady, and retinue the centerpiece of order against
chaos experienced in the dark ages.
In our time, each person is considered endowed with
certain inalienable rights for life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. Evil in the world continually fights
against these principles. We contribute to an evil that
insists the greatest good is the accumulation of power,
wealth, and influence. Leadership often serves its own
interests instead of the common good. Here and there in
civil endeavors there are some who rightly believe in
servant-leadership.
Many have pointed to the death of Jesus on the Cross as
our example for bearing up and thus achieving personal
salvation. Yet, the gospels are clear that Jesus died on the
cross not because God willed his suffering and pain on his
own son, but because of the idolatry of religious leadership
for power and retention of prestige. Jesus refused to
surrender the Father’s love for creation to the need for
power and prestige evidenced by the Sanhedrin. Jesus’
witness of God’s love for creation was of utmost importance.
Jesus acceptance of death, even death on a cross was a
denial of the worth of the ways of the world and a forever
change to the status quo of worldly ambition.
The message of the cross is that God loves us even though
there is pain and suffering as we cling to his love. If we
deny God’s love in favor of the way of the world we make a
mistake. When we stand up for the marginalized, when we
believe in truth, and especially when we hold onto what is
right according to God, we will suffer and some of us will
die as witnesses to the truth of God’s love for us. The
message of the Cross is a part of the truth of our
salvation. The whole truth of God’s revelation through Jesus
must include his ministry and his resurrection. Without his
ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing and gathering
together into one community all people the cross would just
be the end of a wonderful story. The revelation of the life
of Jesus is that no matter how difficult and crushing is the
evil that visits us, God will transform our suffering into a
resurrection that is so unexpected that "eye has not seen,
nor ear heard" of it. Even the most expressive of art
throughout history has not been able to capture what God has
revealed in the life of Jesus.
When we walk in the way of Jesus, we will suffer evil.
That is certain. But we are promised by the very fact of
Jesus’ resurrection that we will achieve fullness of person
in standing up to witness and reveal God’s love for each
person and all of God’s creation. It is in loving our fellow
humans by feeding them and clothing them – as James tells us
this Sunday – that we reveal God’s loving presence among us.
The summary of the revelation of Jesus is simply this: "God
so loves the world…"
Carol & Dennis
Keller
dkeller002@nc.rr.com
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PERSONAL Vs. SECOND-HAND FAITH: 24TH SUNDAY B
There are two kinds of faith. The first is inherited
faith. This is the faith that comes from ancestors, our
forefathers and foremothers. More immediately it is the
faith practised and passed on by parents. The second kind of
faith is a personal faith. It is the faith of those who,
helped by the ‘amazing grace’ of God, believe because of
their own reasoning and reflection. There are gains and
losses to be had with each kind.
Those who inherit their faith have the advantage that
they are not easily tempted to doubt or denial. Even when
confronted with attractive arguments against what they
believe, their faith stays strong. This is because of their
strong family traditions about it, and because it has never
been part of them to analyse what they believe. But they
also have a disadvantage. They have not thought enough about
their faith. It is more a habit and a routine than a matter
of personal conviction. So too they find it hard to put into
words just what they believe or live what they believe. It’s
not yet a big part of their personal identity. Until it is,
they may be more cultural than convinced Christians.
Those with a personal faith have this particular
advantage. They have discovered God for themselves. They
have reached their convictions with their own minds. But
they too have a disadvantage. What they believe can be
shaken by arguments to the contrary, and when that happens
they may be tempted to ditch their faith, to toss it
completely overboard. For them to keep on believing, their
faith has to be grounded in something more than themselves
and their own thought processes.
The best kind of faith is a mixture of both inherited and
personal faith. While affirming and valuing what has been
passed down to them, such believers also count on their
capacity to question the origin and meaning of what they
believe, to think things out for themselves, and to conclude
that their personal beliefs are solidly-based, meaningful
and helpful.
It’s just not enough to say, ‘My family has been
Christian. My parents are believers.’ Because an inherited
faith is a second-hand faith! Every generation has to own
and personalise the faith that has been passed on. It has
been said that some church-goers are little better than
baptised pagans. That’s unduly harsh. But just the same, we
see some glum and tired, bored and indifferent faces in
church, the faces of people who come late and leave early.
Words of the 19th century philosopher Frederick Nietzsche
come to mind in their regard: ‘Christians should look more
redeemed.’
It’s important for us to come up with our own answers,
and to be able to state our beliefs and values as
Christians. It is not sufficient to repeat the official
answers and state the official formulas, such as
‘consubstantial with the Father’. For faith to be alive and
influential in our lives, we have to make inherited faith
our personal faith. What our family believes is not ours
until we are walking the journey of faith ourselves, and
‘walking the walk, not just talking the talk’, as the
rappers put it. The more convinced believers we have in the
Church, the more it is founded on rock, not on sand.
The questions Jesus asked his apostles today are the most
important in the whole gospel. First he asks: ‘Who do other
people say I am?’ The answers they give him were way off the
mark. Then he turns to them and asks: ‘And you, who do you
say I am?’ Peter speaks up for the group, ‘You are the
Christ.’ He says, ‘you are the Messiah, the Saviour’.
Peter got Jesus right. Jesus was and still is the
Messiah. But he did not get Jesus fully and perfectly right.
He did not know or accept that Jesus would be a suffering
Messiah, not a military and political leader. That was
something he had to learn, and learn the hard way.
What Peter did get right were his words as far as they
went. But when he came to acting on his faith, he failed.
His lowest point was when he denied that he ever knew Jesus.
This shows that we need God’s grace, not only to profess our
faith in words, but also to live it, to practise it, and
especially if or when we find ourselves under pressure. In
fact, in asking us what do we think of him, Jesus also
implies that additional question: ‘So, what are you going to
do about it?’
So, for the great grace of an active and practical faith,
let us pray to the Lord, both for ourselves personally, and
for one another!
"Brian Gleeson
CP" <bgleesoncp@gmail.com>
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Volume 2 is for you. Your thoughts, reflections, and
insights on the next Sundays readings can influence the
preaching you hear. Send them to
preacherexchange@att.net. Deadline is Wednesday
Noon. Include your Name, and Email Address.
-- Fr. John
